Story of Use: Analysis of Film Narratives to Inform the Design of Object Interactions

Not only is using a product an experience, it is an interaction and it is narrative in nature. This work in progress paper describes the narrative theory background for this statement, in particular schemata theory and the concepts of agency, tellability and narrativity, then describes methods that are being used in the project to analyse film narratives and apply these to the design of tellable physical products

Narrative, Sensemaking, and Improvisation in Participatory Hypermedia Construction

In this paper we describe research into a form of practitioner sensemaking in the context of participatory hypermedia construction sessions, in which groups of people build knowledge maps. We discuss how constructs from narrative theory and improvisation have helped us understand what happens at the moments when practitioners encounter dilemmas and obstacles. We provide brief examples from case studies and discuss possible contributions to broader themes in sensemaking research

Intentional Storytelling to Sustain Low-cost/Free Breast Cancer Services: A Latina Example of Community-driven Advocacy

Background: Community-based public health advocacy efforts are crucial to sustaining the low-cost/free breast cancer services that support underserved populations. Objectives: We introduce two ways in which narrative theory may be a useful tool for developing advocacy materials and provide an example, using a community–academic partnership to promote Latina breast health in Chicago, Illinois. Methods: Community and academic partners 1) engaged 25 Spanish-speaking Latinas in an advocacy workshop, 2) leveraged narrative theory to develop multi-media advocacy materials, and 3) disseminated materials to policymakers. Lessons Learned: Our project highlights 1) that narrative theory may be useful to describe how Latinas engage policy-makers in relation to their needs and cultural norms, 2) the importance of flexibility and offering community members multiple options to engage policymakers, and 3) the importance of leveraging partners’ complementary strengths. Conclusions: Narrative theory may be a useful tool for developing advocacy materials in community–academic partnerships

On the Epistemology of Narrative Theory : Narratology and Other Theories of Fictional Narrative

In this article, I propose to analyze narrative theory from an epistemological standpoint. To do so, I will draw upon both Genettian narratology and what I would call, following Shigeyuki Kuroda, “non-communicational” theories of fictional narrative. In spite of their very unequal popularity, I consider these theories as objective, or, in other words, as debatable and ripe for rational analyses; one can choose between them. The article is made up of three parts. The first part concerns the object of narrative theory, or the narrative as a constructed object, both in narratology (where narrative is likened to a narrative discourse) and in non-communicational narrative theories (where fictional narrative and discourse are mutually exclusive categories). The second part takes up the question of how the claims of these theories do or do not lend themselves to falsification. In particular, Gérard Genette’s claim that “every narrative is, explicitly or not, ‘in the first person’”, will be considered, through the lens of Ann Banfield’s theory of free indirect style. In the third part the reductionism of narrative theory will be dealt with. This leads to a reflection on the role of narrative theory in the analysis of fictional narratives

Narrative Theory

This essay surveys literary criticism at the intersection of narrative theory and the Victorian novel, which often takes one of two major approaches. In the first approach, critics examine how the act of narration itself shapes and constrains Victorian narratives, whereas in the second approach, critics focus on the relationship between Victorian narratives and their audience. The piece concludes with an account of how psychological perspectives on reading can expand narrative theory’s understanding of what readers do with literary texts and what texts do to their readers in turn

RECONSTRUCTION OF SOCIAL SCIENCE AND HUMANITIES THROUGH NARRATIVE

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present new directions and research strategies through critical analysis of the academic tendencies of existing social science and humanities. The narrative theory of human experience is adopted as a theoretical rationale for critical analysing existing social sciences and humanities. Since the 1970s and 1980s, the academic tendencies of the humanities and social sciences have been transformed into the narrative turn. We focus on the new integrity of humanities and social sciences in light of the narrative theory that approaches the totality of human life. The narrative theory for academic inquiry makes use of the position of Bruner, Polkinghorne, Ricoeur Methodology: We reviewed the literature related to the research topic and took an integrated approach to the philosophical analysis of core claims. Main Findings: As a result, the narrative theory has a characteristic approach to human life and experience as a whole, and it is possible to integrate by narrative ways of knowing. Implications/Applications: Based on this narrative theory, existing humanities and social sciences need to be reconstructed into narrative science. And a narrative method or narrative inquiry is useful as its specific inquiry method. As a narrative science, humanities and social sciences can be implemented by the integration of human experience and narrative epistemology. It has the advantage of integrating the atomized sub-sciences into the narrative of human experience according to this new method. Also, in-depth research on concrete exploration strategies is expected in the future

An Essay on Musical Narrative Theory and Its Role in Interpretation, with Analyses of Works for Saxophone by Alfred Desenclos and John Harbison

In recent years the field of semiotics has increasingly been applied to musicology, with particular attention paid to the area of narrative theory. This study will provide an introduction to the essential concepts of semiotics and narrative theory, the development of a methodology of narrative analysis with examples from the saxophone repertoire, and the application of that analytical approach to Alfred Desenclos\u27 Prélude, Cadence, et Finale and John Harbison\u27s San Antonio. The goal of this study will be the demonstration of narrative theory\u27s applicability to a variety of styles pertinent to the concert saxophone repertoire. It is hoped that this demonstration will be of value in future interpretive efforts in the area of saxophone performance, and in the performance of contemporary repertoire generally

Who the hell was that? Stories, bodies and actions in the world

This article explores a two-way relationship between stories and the experiential actions of bodies in the world. Through an autoethnographic approach, the article presents a series of interlinked story fragments in an effort to show and evoke a feel for the ways in which stories, bodies, and actions influence and shape each other over time. It offers some reflections on the experiences the stories portray from the perspective of a social constructionist conception of narrative theory and suggest that while stories exert a powerful influence on the actions of our bodies, our bodies intrude on or ‘talk back’ to this process because bodies have an existence beyond stories